Mackenzie Elizabeth Keiper was born on March 26, 1996 in Billings, MT to Kimberly & Paul Keiper and the Lord called her home on May 22, 2024 after a 3 year battle with ovarian cancer.

In the summer of 1997, Mackenzie moved with her parents to Tampa, FL and they were joined by sister Madeleine shortly thereafter. Mackenzie enjoyed a very active childhood and kept us all very busy. She attended many sporting events cheering on the Buccaneers, Devil Rays, Lightning, and the Florida Gators; perhaps this triggered her lifelong love of sports. In her early years, she spent many afternoons & weekends participating in soccer, tee ball, gymnastics, and dance. Mackenzie loved to travel and spent her younger years traveling to Naples, FL, Hilton Head Island, Dallas, and London.

At the age of 10, Mackenzie moved to Missoula, MT with her family where she would spend most of her formative years. She adjusted very quickly and made friends with many. In middle school, she enjoyed competing in soccer, swimming, tennis, and skiing. Mack spent almost every winter weekend skiing. She loved skiing double black diamonds and was always the fastest one down the mountain. In high school, she participated in cross country, swimming, and tennis and competed at the state level in each of them. She even ran two half marathons and competed in triathlons with her family while in high school! She participated in Model United Nations where she was named an “outstanding senior” and served as an officer for National Honor Society. She played the clarinet beginning at age 10 and was named 1st chair. She was selected as drum major of the Hellgate High Marching Band her senior year. Because of her small stature, they had to have a drum major uniform specially made - it was rather comical watching her attempt to lift the heavy “Knights Sword” as was required of the drum major to keep the beat. In addition to staying busy with her extracurricular activities, Mackenzie loved learning and excelled in the classroom; she graduated as Valedictorian of Hellgate High School in 2014. To celebrate, she embarked on a bike trip through Slovenia, Austria, & Italy and made many special memories with her mom, Maddie, and grandma Blaine.

Mackenzie started at Baylor University in the fall of 2014 - she was accepted to the Baylor Business Fellows honors program and pursued majors in Accounting & Finance, as well as a minor in Spanish. She loved going to every Baylor football game and as many Baylor basketball games as she could. She joined Delta Delta Delta and was elected to the Recruitment team. Through this role, she mentored many incoming Freshmen and recruited many of them to join Tri Delta. During her senior year, she served as Tri Delta’s Vice President of Finance, a role which allowed her skills to truly shine. Through Tri Delta, she participated in All-University Sing and loved performing on stage with her sorority sisters. During college, she enjoyed many trips to Cabo San Lucas (she loved the beach), a bike trip through France, and studying abroad in Madrid with Maddie, during which she got to check many more European countries off her bucket list! Mackenzie graduated in 2018 from Baylor University, Magna Cum Laude, with a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master of Accountancy.

Shortly after her graduation, she studied for and passed the CPA exams in a matter of a month and a half. Mackenzie was always so adventurous with her travels and hiked the Salkantay Trail to Machu Picchu with her mom in July 2018 to celebrate all her achievements. Mack moved to Dallas and began her job at EY in the Fall of 2018 and truly thrived as an auditor. She always impressed her managers & clients and made many great relationships throughout her time at EY. In her free time, she loved to compete with her team in USTA tennis, read romance novels, exercise (she enjoyed walking the Katy Trail & pilates), and spend time with her roommates Payton & Jennifer.

In May of 2021, at age 25, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer one day after her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. She and Kim leaned on each other and their faith to weather their storms together. She was a patient at MD Anderson and was such a brave fighter throughout her 3 years of treatment - she never gave up. Shortly after her diagnosis, she joined the MD Anderson Patient and Family Advocacy Board and served as a patient advocate. It is through her participation with this board that she was offered a consulting position in the oncology division with The Chartis Group. She loved her job at Chartis and making an impact in the oncology world. Mack was always a diligent employee and never wanted to let her team down - she continued to work until two weeks before her death. In the midst of her cancer battle, she enjoyed trips to New York City, Watercolor, FL, Park City, UT, Cincinnati (to see Joe Burrow), Nashville, TN and New Zealand.

Mackenzie was passionate about mentoring others throughout her life, starting with her sister Maddie and evolving into various babysitting roles, helping the special education students in her classes, welcoming Freshman students to Baylor as a Welcome Week leader & Tri Delta recruitment leader, and later recruiting new staff to EY & serving as a counselor to EY staff. She was always quick to help us out with any technology issue or research the best thing to buy or the best place to go. We will miss her quick wit, her passion for sauces of any kind, and her interesting diet. Her Thanksgiving plate always contained foods of the same color (tan/brown) and she knew exactly what she wanted to eat at any given time. She could never pass up a good deal and was always on the hunt for a sale. Mackenzie loved information and loved to know everything about every sport (college sports, NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB, golf, & tennis - the list goes on) - she was basically our resident sports encyclopedia. She spent lots of time reading about all the recent sports news and could fact check anyone. She could recite all 32 NFL starting quarterbacks from memory at the drop of a hat! She served as the commissioner of our family fantasy football league and always coordinated any sports related competition possible - from bowl game pick’em to the March Madness bracket challenge.

Mackenzie’s faith in Jesus Christ was the foundation of her life and kept her going, even in the face of cancer. She was baptized at Idlewild Baptist Church on Mother’s Day 2003. She loved serving in the church as a Sunday School leader, a volunteer in the nursery, and a VBS teacher. Her faith inspired us as well as many others. In her final days she reminded us “God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.” While we are heartbroken her journey here on Earth has ended, we rejoice knowing she is finally healthy and fully healed. We are thrilled that she has been reunited with her Savior and she gets to dance in His presence forever.

Mack was known to be feisty, passionate, & sassy - she packed a lot of personality into her 28 years with us and we have so many wonderful memories with her because of it. Mackenzie was surrounded by family when she died and we got to see just how many lives she touched at MD Anderson and beyond. Mackenzie is deeply loved and we will miss her dearly. We are so thankful for all the time we got to spend with her - even in the midst of fighting cancer, she gave us so many great memories we will cherish forever. It was a privilege to get to care for her throughout her journey. It is a gift to be her family!

Mackenzie is survived by her parents Paul & Kimberly Keiper, sister Madeleine Keiper, grandparents Brian & Blaine Bolton, grandmother Luella Keiper, aunts Kathy (Meric) Overman, Lori Smith, & Linda Keiper, uncles Brian Bolton & Scott (Greta) Keiper, and many cousins, great aunts, and great uncles. She is preceded in death by grandfather Henry J. Keiper Jr., and uncles Duane Keiper, Wayne Keiper, and Bill Smith.

In lieu of flowers, it was Mackenzie’s wish that donations be made to The Rutledge Cancer Foundation, which supports teens and young adults with cancer. Please use this link (https://rutledgecancerfoundat…) to donate and designate your donation “In memory of Mackenzie Keiper.”

A private family celebration of life will be held at a later date.

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